James Franklin addresses the ‘critical moments’ that doomed No. 6 Penn State against Ohio State
During his weekly media assembly, Franklin explained what went on in the pivotal loss, all while turning the page to Saturday’s White Out game against Big Ten newcomer, Washington
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Being feted with a chorus of boos is never fun.
But after losing to Ohio State for the eighth consecutive year, Penn State coach James Franklin drowned under the cacophony as he walked off the field at Beaver Stadium.
The criticism of the coach, now in his 11th year in Happy Valley, spilled over to social media, with tons of questions circulating on exactly what went wrong for the now-No. 6 Nittany Lions (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten).
On Monday, Franklin explained what went on in the pivotal loss, all while turning the page to the upcoming White Out game against Washington (5-4, 3-3) at Beaver Stadium this Saturday (8 p.m., Peacock).
Goal-line struggles
The most notable play sequence was the game-ending goal-line stand where Penn State failed to come away with points from the Ohio State 3-yard line after three runs by junior back Kaytron Allen — followed by a game-ending incompletion on fourth-and-goal from the 1. With the weekend to review, Franklin acknowledged there was no movement from the offensive line. He added they have to do better “scheme-wise.”
“In critical moments, you got to think players, not plays,” Franklin said. “Maybe in one of those three downs at least, you’ve got to make sure [senior tight end] Tyler Warren touches the ball.”
Lackluster run game
Part of the reason Allen was unable to score is Penn State’s run game has struggled of late.
Allen and his running partner, junior Nick Singleton, combined for 42 yards on 18 carries Saturday. Allen averaged 7.8 yards per carry against Wisconsin, but against USC and UCLA he averaged about 3.5 and 3.7 yards, respectively.
The duo was arguably Penn State’s biggest offensive threat heading into 2024, causing teams to stack the box and stuff the backs repeatedly.
“There’s some things that we have to do, you know, in terms of scheme to make them defend the field and spread the box out as much as possible,” Franklin said.
A strategy hindering this is using redshirt sophomore guard Vega Ioane in motion as an eligible receiver. It’s allowed teams to match personnel and nullify his impact. Ioane went in motion for each of the four plays in that aforementioned goal-line stand.
Franklin pointed that out as a problem and said they’ve “got to get the run game going.” He later admitted it affected the offense’s ability to stay “on schedule.”
Moving forward
After Saturday’s game, senior linebacker Kobe King, along with a few other players, said there wasn’t much finger-pointing after the game — just positive and honest conversations.
The defensive line received a lot of credit for its leadership postgame. Despite not being named a captain, sixth-year defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas has been a vocal leader and played a big role on Saturday.
“I was very proud of the guys in the locker room after the game,” Franklin said. “Dvon has done a really good job in the locker room with messaging to the overall team.”
Franklin was impressed with his team’s response in Sunday practice. “They’ve got a game to prepare for and are on the right track,” he said before adding, “We’re on to Washington. We got to make sure that one loss doesn’t turn into two.”